Financial Times draws attention to the low issuance volumes in securitisation

The Financial Times, in an article in today’s edition, draws attention to the reducing volume of securitisation issuance in Europe. (Please note the article is behind a paywall). This reflects concerns long expressed by PCS that the European securitisation market is walking a tightrope at this stage and that further reduction of issuance could tip it over into an implosion where investors and investment banks simply wind up their teams and withdraw entirely from a market because of insufficient product to justify the overheads. This concern of PCS has been exacerbated by the introduction of T-LTRO by the ECB. We have long maintained that a progressive and controlled withdrawal of the central bank’s “free money” policy was a sine qua non of a return of a strong ABS market. We believe the T-LTRO, by increasing and extending this policy, could pose a genuine threat to the survival of the market.